Roy Holder

CRN: 200910 – Section number: 001 – Class Days: TR 7:45a – 8:35 am - Classroom: SOM E202

Office: Band Office - 330.672.2965 - Telephone: 330.672.2965 (Kent Campus) - E-mail: mneiman@kent.edu

Office Hours: TR 9:00 – 9:55 am (Additional hours available by appointment)
 

MUSIC 23241: MUSIC TEACHING AS A PROFESSION

Kent State University – Hugh A. Glauser School of Music

Date: September 21, 2011

Holder, Roy. 2010. What We Learn Along the Way.

The instrumentalist, Volume Number, (Issue Number), Pages 26, 28-30, 54-55.

Summary of the Article: Holder says that to be successful as a band director you need to remember the little people. You need to remember the janitor, the secretaries and the athletic office assistants. Appreciating those people will give you time to do the more time consuming parts of the job. The more time you can spend teaching the students music and the less time you do administrative duties the better your band program will be. Holder found out that the more responsibility that you give to students the more motivated they are. Instead of rehearsing every passage or having students test off music to you, turn it over to section leaders. However you need to give them the means to be able to work out difficult passages and practice techniques. The band needs to know that your serious and they need to know their parts so you can spend more time making music and not practicing noted and rhythms. Band directors have to strive to teach their students to do more than what is necessary to just play their part. They need to know that on the road to success there will also be failure. A band director has to know when the right time is to push their students and when the right time is to just let it slide. Band directors also have to access themselves on a daily basis and ask themselves what they could have done differently, what would have worked better in that situation. When making decisions teachers have to sometimes wait and and get the facts before you make a decision. When choosing music make sure it is something that your students can play and is in compliance with educational needs. Make sure to fix the things that can be fixed in rehearsal and never have students circle notes or passages, have them actually mark what war wrong. For harder passages make sure that the students have a strategy to practice the problem area then continue to watch that spot furring class. When meeting with parents or administration take a step back and put yourself in your students shoes. And when writing emails make sure to include all the details even when you think they might know it. Anthony Gibson thinks that understanding the relationships in a school is the secret to being a good music teacher. When teaching in high profile positions everyone is watching you- parents, students, administrators, community members and you have to be able to communicate to them, and focus on what you are doing. But eventually its the relationships you made and not the trophies you won that matter. Gibson says that you cant forget your family along the way. If you forget your family along the way there are going to be times that you can never make up. Joseph Manfredo thinks that networking is important. You need more people in your network than music educators though, you need other teachers, local organizations, and volunteers to help with festivals. One of the only way to be sure that students know their parts is to access them. Forming relationships is vital to a band program, they will help you with the things that you don’t have time for.

I agree with Holder that you have to remember the custodians, secretaries and other people in schools. I don’t know how many times I saw the janitors at my high school doing favors for Mr. Hoefler or Mrs. Levy my band directors. High school band especially takes up a lot of time. So you have to remember to set aside time for your family so you don’t miss important things in their lives or have regret. One thing I can remember Mr. Hoefler talking about that agrees with this article is networking. He always use to tell me that you never know who you meet will effect you in the future. He would always save everyone’s cards so that he would be able to get a hold of them if he would ever need them for anything.

Personal statements: This article will help me to have the knowledge to be a successful band director. This article emphasizes networking is one of the best ways to go places in this field. Holden]r also said that you need to be relaxed and let the little thing slide. My motto in life is to not let the little things get to you, because if you do people will be less likely to respond the way that you want. I also went through a band program where the little things were always over reacted, so I know that it has an adverse effect.

MUSIC 23241: MUSIC TEACHING AS A PROFESSION

Mr. Marcus L. Neiman, Assistant Professor

Kent State University School of Music

Fall, 2011